


I'll Be Fine

by lilly_the_kid



Series: Before Blackwater [1]
Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:07:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25715551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilly_the_kid/pseuds/lilly_the_kid
Summary: "Goddamnit, what just happened?" Dutch got off his horse and turned around, waiting for Arthur.Aftermath of a plan gone south. Takes place five years before Blackwater.
Relationships: Arthur Morgan/Dutch van der Linde
Series: Before Blackwater [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2147766
Comments: 4
Kudos: 67





	I'll Be Fine

**Author's Note:**

> I'm currently in chapter six again and I needed something to cheer me up. Some fluff, well, as fluffy as it can get with these two, I guess. Hope you enjoy.

"Goddamnit, what just happened?" Dutch got off his horse and turned around, waiting for Arthur.

Arthur rode the last few paces and dismounted. He stumbled and would have hit the ground had it not been for Dutch catching him. Arthur caught his balance and shoved Dutch's hands away.

"Your plan was shit! That's what happened." He wanted to be angry. He was in a way. But mostly he was just shaken up and ashamed to admit it. He crossed his arms in front of him just so that Dutch wouldn't be able to see that his hands were actually shaking.

"Oh, come on, my plan was solid." Dutch threw up his arms and started pacing. 

"Had it been solid we wouldn't be having this conversation now, would we?"

Dutch turned back around and walked towards Arthur. He pointed his finger at him. 

"It would have worked perfectly if you-," he almost poked Arthur's forehead. "Hadn't messed up." 

Arthur slapped at Dutch's hand. 

"Don't give me this shit. This was doomed from the start and you know it." He turned aound, meaning to walk away from Dutch, but the sudden movement made him dizzy and he stumbled again. This time Dutch didn't catch him in time and he ended up on his knees. The impact made his head hurt. Just now he felt blood trickle down his neck. Shit! Those assholes actually got him good when they were trowing rocks after them. He'd noticed that he got hit, but didn't think it was serious. This was getting better and better.

"You ok?"

He felt Dutch's hand on his shoulder and this time he didn't shake it off. He grunted.

"One of them hit me."

"You got shot?" Dutch sounded worried and his hands starting roaming over Arthur's body, looking for a gun shot would.

"No." Arthur shoved Dutch's hands away. "Stop that. I didn't get shot. They were throwing rocks. One hit me in the head."

There was silence. Then Dutch was actually laughing. 

"Shut up. It's not funny."

"I'm sorry. But actually it is. A little." Dutch helped him get up. "It's better then getting shot at least."

"I guess," Arthur mumbled.

"Come on, let's make camp over there by that river. I'll take a look at your head."

\-----------

Arthur was sitting against a tree while Dutch was finishing up their camp. He was leaning sideways. His back hurt, they must have hit him there as well. During the chase he only barely noticed it, but now with the adrenaline rush being over he certainly felt it. 

It was almost dark and he was tired. His head hurt and his whole body felt sore, but that wasn't the worst of it. For the first time in all those years he'd run with Dutch he'd been seriously worried about dying. And he didn't really understand why. 

It wasn't like this was any worse than any of the other times one of Dutch's plans had gone south. For some reason it hadn't ever felt real before, though. Maybe it wasn't this particular situation, but his own perception of things that was different all of the sudden. Arthur frowned. This was hard enough to think about without a major head wound. 

He'd been with Dutch and Hosea for about 15 years and they'd often been in dangerous and risky situations. He'd never minded that. In fact, he used to love it actually. Made him feel alive when they were in a gun fight, bullets everywhere and Dutch smiling at him once the smoke had settled. Maybe that rock finally knocked some sense into him.

"Get over here!"

Arthur looked over to Dutch. He was sitting by the fire and went through their supplies. 

Arthur got up. Carefully. No need to fall on his face again. But he was relieved to find that there was no dizzines this time. He walked over to the fire and sat down on his bedroll.

"Sit with your back to the fire so that I can see what I'm doing." 

Arthur did as he was told. Dutch moved to kneel beside him and took off his hat.

"Still hurt?"

"A bit. Not much, though." Truth was he still had a headache. And he felt a bit nauseous, but he wasn't about to admit that. He didn't want Dutch laughing at him again.

He felt Dutch fingers in his hair and flinched when they touched the wound.

"Sorry." Just that. Sorry. No joke, no teasing. That was kinda nice, actually.

That sat in silence for a while. Dutch used a wet cloth to clean away the dried blood. He was being careful, but it still hurt.

"Doesn't look too bad. This is gonna sting." Arthur braced himself while Dutch poured some whiskey over the cut. "There you go, good as new. Not as if there was much to damage anyway."

There it was. Arthur sighed. It wasn't anything new. In fact, Dutch was joking about his intelligence or lack thereoff quite frequently. And it'd never bothered him much. Hosea did it too sometimes, but somehow that was different. With Hosea he had no doubt that it was just a joke. With Dutch he wasn't always so sure anymore.

"You got hurt anywhere else?"

"Nothing serious. I think I got hit in the back once or twice."

"Take off your shirt. Let me see."

Arthur opened the buttons on his shirt. When he tried to shrug it off he winced. Everything hurt. He felt Dutch grabbing the shirt and pulling it off. 

"You got some bruises here. But no bleeding."

"Well, that's something at least."

Arthur moved to get up, but was stopped when Dutch pushed down on his shoulders. 

"Wait. Lie down."

Arthur sighed. He wasn't really in the mood for any of Dutch's games. But he did as he asked anyway. He heard Dutch go through their supplies. Then he felt Dutch straddling him and something cold on his back.

"What the hell are you doing?" Arthur tried to turn his head, but stopped when he was reminded that it was still tender.

"Relax. It's a salve. It should help." Dutch was slowly rubbing the salve on Arthur's back and he had to admit that it felt nice. The cold felt good on the bruises and he also enjoyed Dutch touching him and being gentle about it. He also enjoyed it when Dutch was rough, but the gentle stuff was rarer, so it felt like a special treat. 

Arthur felt himself relaxing. He turned his head to the side and closed his eyes.

"There you go. That's a good boy." Dutch was chuckling.

Arthur opened his eyes. 

"Is this stuff for horses?"

"Well, yeah. But I figure it can't hurt. Does it help?"

"It does feel good," Arthur mumbled.

Dutch continued rubbing Arthur's back. Arthur closed his eyes again and allowed himself to just enjoy it. He let his mind wander and started getting sleepy. After a while Dutch's hands went lower, almost touching Arthur's gunbelt.

"Maybe we should take this off." 

Arthur was slightly startled when he felt Dutch press a kiss on the back of his neck. 

He opened his eyes and blinked. 

"I don't know, Dutch. If you really wanna do this, you'll have to do all the work. I'm beat."

"I can work with that."

Arthur felt himself being pushed slightly onto his side. Dutch opened his gunbelt and unfastened his pants. He pulled the gunbelt off and threw it to the side. He rolled Arthur back on his stomach again. Then Dutch's hands wandered down from his shoulders to his waistband and pulled his pants down. 

Arthur heard Dutch opening his own belt.

"You know, this salve is really good for everything." 

"You don't say." Arthur's breath hitched when he felt Dutch opening him up. God, he'd missed this. Their private moments had been scarce lately. And if a ruined plan lead to this, well, then it wasn't a total loss at least. 

Arthur felt Dutch pressing in and grunted, bringing his hand up to his mouth and biting on it. Patience wasn't really Dutch's style. Once Dutch found a rhythm and Arthur got used to it, it got good. Real good. Arthur felt himself getting hard. The friction of the bedroll underneath and the fact that it'd been quite a while was almost enough to push him over the edge. 

They went on for a while, the only sounds their moans and laboured breathing. In moments like this Arthur could forget everything that bothered him, everything that was wrong, that felt pointless.

"I've missed you, Arthur." Dutch was leaning forward, moving faster and Arthur could feel his breath on his neck. And with that he came. He felt Dutch coming just seconds later. 

\-----------

It was early morning, the sun was barely up. Arthur was sitting by the fire, smoking and drinking some coffee. On the other side of the fire Dutch stirred and sat up.

"Good morning." 

"Good morning." Dutch ran a hand through his hair and tugged at his clothes, trying to make himself more presentable. Arthur smiled into his coffee. 

After a moment Dutch got up and sat down next to him. Arthur handed him a cup of coffee. 

"You sleep ok?" Dutch didn't look at him, he just sipped his coffee. 

There wouldn't be any talk about the night before. There never was. Whenever it happened, it happened and that was it. And Arthur was fine with it. At least that's what he told himself. It had been hard in the beginning, this kind of disconnect. But he'd come to understand that this was the only way Dutch knew how to do this. And if that was all he could get, he would take it. So he told Dutch what he knew he needed to hear.

"I'll be fine."

\-----------


End file.
